To study Thomas Charles of Bala is to study the problem of hagiography in the literature on Calvinistic Methodism in Wales. D. E. Jenkins rightly points out that ‘the majority … have never concealed their hero-worship [with respect to Thomas Charles], accepting every favourable story as a contribution to the glorifying of his memory, however semi-mythical it chanced to be’.[1] The historian however must endeavour to see beyond filiopietistic literature into the life and history of Thomas Charles authentically with all the frailties and idiosyncrasies of his humanity. Thomas Charles is principally known for his work as a promoter of the Sunday school movement in Wales and for his role in establishing the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). According to Jenkins, Thomas Charles saw little value in the idea of the Eisteddfod and preferred to focus his efforts on religious matters. ‘He believed that “righteousness exalteth a nation,” and that the Christian religion inculcates the truest righteousness’.[2] His work in promoting the Sunday school movement and in establishing the Bible Society led to him becoming ‘a national idol’.[3] This paper will consider the key events in Thomas Charles’ life and ministry as discussed in the literature before considering the various scholarly and popular perspectives on his career by exploring questions of historiography in its filiopietistic, academic, and Welsh language forms.
I.
A
Critical Life of Thomas Charles[4]
Thomas
Charles was born of humble parentage at Longmoor (later absorbed by the holding
of Asgood) in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn in Carmarthenshire and was
educated for the ministry at Jesus College, Oxford between 1775 and 1778. His
father Rees Charles was a reasonably prosperous farmer, and his wife Jael was the
daughter of David Bowen or Pibwr Lwyd, onetime Sheriff of Carmarthenshire. While
at university Thomas Charles came under the influence of evangelical theology
through the ministry of John Newton (1725–1807) at Olney in Buckinghamshire –
an English evangelical Anglican cleric who had previously served as captain of
slave ships and an investor in the transatlantic slave trade. He would
eventually become a leading slavery abolitionist and author of some of the
greatest hymns in the English language – the most famous of them being ‘Amazing
Grace’, ‘How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds’, and ‘Glorious Things of Thee are
Spoken’. Newton would introduce Charles to a host of notable evangelical
clergymen including William Romaine (1714–95), Thomas Haweis (1734–1820),
Richard Cecil (1748–1810), and Charles Simeon (1759–1836).
Thomas Charles was originally educated at Llanddowror
and the Dissenting Academy at Carmarthen before he undertook higher education
at Jesus College, Oxford. Charles was especially influenced by reading the
Puritan Baptist writer John Bunyan during his education, especially his
writings on covenant theology such as The Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded
(1659).[5]
It is intriguing that Thomas Charles as a pedobaptist should be influenced by
the thought of John Bunyan on the subject of covenant theology, especially
given that Bunyan was a credo-Baptist theologically speaking. Typically, one
would expect a Presbyterian or Congregationalist theologian to articulate
covenant theology. Charles was also influenced by reading the English clergyman
and author James Hervey (1714–58) – a proto-Romantic and evangelical theologian
whose writings had also influenced William Williams, Pantycelyn. Despite his
romanticism, Hervey was an orthodox Calvinist divine and is remembered chiefly
for his work in natural theology. Thomas Charles would experience conversion
while listening to the Calvinistic Methodist clergyman Daniel Rowland preaching
in 1773 – an experience he would describe in glowing terms as though he were a
blind man receiving sight for the first time.[6] This
was no doubt upon hearing a sermon preached at the newly built chapel for
Daniel Rowland and his public ministry at Llangeitho known somewhat defiantly
in Welsh as Yr Eglwys Newydd (‘The New Church’), especially considering
Methodism’s tenuous relationship with the Established Church. Jenkins comments
that the name of the chapel ‘throbs with a spirit of dignified defiance to the
Episcopal ban placed upon the ministrations of the preacher’.[7]
During his time at Oxford, Thomas Charles came
into financial difficulties and owed the sum of twenty pounds sterling to the
university, not a small amount in those days. He was helped to make the payment
by an unexpected benefactor who told Charles that he would no longer suffer
want during his time at the university. D. E. Jenkins suggests the philanthropist
Alderman William Fletcher was the donor who provided Thomas Charles with the
necessary loans to complete his studies. In the year 1777, Thomas Charles spent
the summer with John Newton at Olney. Charles writes of an opportunity to hear William
Romaine preach at Olney in a letter to Watts Wilkinson. He remarks concerning
his unction and the presence of the Holy Spirit during his preaching, saying
that he would desire such things for his own ministry: ‘One may speak a great
deal, and that very orthodox; but unless he has a little of the unction of the
Holy Spirit, he might, for aught I know, as well be silent. This is what
I want in my prayers, studies, and meditations’.[8] This
awareness of the need for the anointing of the Holy Spirit would characterise
Thomas Charles’ life and ministry in the tradition established by the founders
of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales. It was as much a movement of experience
as of theology.
Several students had been expelled from Oxford
University in 1768 for their Methodism, especially for their public
conventicles in which they would read, pray, sing hymns, and expound Scripture
extemporaneously as the Holy Spirit led them. Thomas Charles must have felt
something of the pressure from the university authorities as a student was
expelled during Charles’ time at university for involvement in Wesleyan Methodist
circles. Thomas Charles’ Methodist associations were well known at this time,
not least his conversion under Daniel Rowland (one of the leading Calvinistic
Methodists in Wales), his connections with the Methodists of Carmarthen, not to
mention his associations with the devout or ‘serious’ students at Oxford. Some
considered these ‘serious’ students to be fanatics and a threat to episcopal
system of ordination and church government. Thomas Charles chose outward
conformity for the sake of obtaining his degree and ordination at this time and
treasured his Methodist sympathies privately in his heart. According to
Jenkins, ‘Mr Charles’s conversion under the ministry of one of the greatest
preachers among the despised Methodists, his connection with the Methodists of
Carmarthen, and with the “serious” group at Oxford, made it certain that his
sympathies were with the Methodists. But, having contracted, on entering
College, that he would submit to the discipline of the University, he studied
how to avoid and course which could be deemed “irregular” by the authorities’.[9] His
‘burning zeal’ was ‘well controlled’ during his time at Oxford.[10]
He was awarded his degree and ordained as a deacon in 1778. He held various
curacies in Somerset before taking priests orders and made the difficult
decision to move back to Wales to marry Sally Jones, daughter of a prominent
shopkeeper in Bala, whom he loved. This decision would come with considerable
financial difficulties for Thomas Charles as it proved difficult to find a position
in the Established Church in North Wales. Sally Jones’ family business would
prove essential towards their maintenance during the initial years of his
ministry in Bala and throughout his ministry in North Wales. Several love
letters were exchanged between Sally Jones and Thomas Charles in the lead up to
their engagement. Sally expresses her desire for secrecy during courtship in
one of her letters – as Jenkins observes: ‘Typically Welsh is that touch in the
letter which impresses upon the recipient the sacred duty of secrecy. If there
is anything for which the real Welsh maiden will make many sacrifices, and
invent many schemes, it is for the secrecy of her love affairs’.[11]
Miss Jones gave coy encouragement towards Charles, while Charles expressed his
sweet desires for her hand in marriage. They would eventually become lifelong
partners in marriage and friends in the evangelical gospel.
Charles would be ordained as a priest in 1780
and would bid farewell to Oxford University. He would, however, maintain
correspondence with a number of friends from Oxford – most notably John Mayor
(1755–1826), Edward Griffin (1755–1833), Watts Wilkinson (1755–1840), and Simon
Lloyd (1756–1836). Though keeping friendships with clergymen in England, Thomas
Charles sought curacies close to Bala where he had determined to live with his
wife Sally. Although he would be unsuccessful in finding anything permanent in
the Established Church owing to his Methodist sympathies, Charles decided to
commit himself to the Methodist cause in Bala and the surrounding area. He
formally joined the Calvinistic Methodist society at Bala in 1784 and would be
heavily involved in their meetings. He was quite concerned by the lack of
Biblical knowledge among folk in Bala and North Wales generally. He would work
tirelessly to see copies of the Welsh Bible printed and distributed throughout
the principality – founding the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1802 to
meet that need in Wales and the wider world and even producing his own edition
of the Welsh Bible. The story of the fifteen-year-old Mary Jones (1784–1864)
walking twenty-six miles barefooted to obtain a Bible from Thomas Charles with
her life savings is well known in Wales – allegedly becoming one of the reasons
for founding the Bible Society itself. Charles was not the founder of the
Sunday school movement as is sometimes erroneously claimed, others had already
founded similar schools in England and Wales, but he was one of its biggest
advocates and promoters in Welsh society. Some opposed his emphasis on teaching
during the Sabbath as this was a special day set apart for rest and the worship
of God, but generally Charles’ circulating schools and Sunday schools met with
great success. They would teach the Bible and the catechism in the medium of
Welsh to children and adults – inculcating Welsh society in the principals of
Reformed Protestant theology.
Charles wrote his own catechism and Bible
dictionary to encourage Biblical literacy in Wales. In fact, Thomas Charles is
principally remembered theologically for his four volume Geiriadur
Ysgrythyrol (‘Scriptural Dictionary’) and catechism Yr Hyfforddwr
(‘The Instructor’). His catechism went through hundreds of editions during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, being immensely popular with the laity.
The full title echoes the title from Calvin’s treatise on Reformed theology The
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559): Hyfforddwr yn
Egwyddorion y Grefydd Gristnogol (‘An Instructor in the Institutes of the
Christian Religion’). His Geiriadur Ysgrythyrol was originally published
over four volumes in 1805, 1808, 1810, and 1811 respectively. A further six
editions were published prior to 1900 and two editions were even published for
the Welsh speaking communities in the United States. His published writings
reveal a deep familiarity with orthodox Reformed theology in both its Puritan
and continental varieties. Charles was an astute linguist in terms of his grasp
of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and a formidable theologian who would draw upon a
wide array of orthodox Reformed sources in his publications, particularly his
encyclopaedic Scriptural dictionary. In collaboration with Thomas Jones (1756–1820),
he also started the first monthly Calvinistic Methodist periodical in Wales
known as Y Trysorfa Ysbrydol (‘The Spiritual Treasury’) which would
eventually be superseded by Y Drysorfa (‘The Treasury’) and would issue
its last publication in 1968. Charles would not shy away from controversy, and
he played a leading role in the expulsion of Peter Williams (1723–96) for his
heterodox views of the Holy Trinity, particularly for his comments on John 1:1
which led to suggestions that he sympathised with Sabellianism.[12]
He would also be the first to ordain home-grown Calvinistic Methodist clergymen
in Wales in 1811 and formally break fellowship with the Established Church. This
must have been a difficult decision for Charles who was committed to the
articles and liturgy of the Established Church. Charles made the decision to
ordain Calvinistic Methodist clergy in Wales for the purpose of administering
the sacraments of baptism and Holy Eucharist which until this point had been
the sole prerogative of ordained Anglican clergy in Wales. Thomas Charles would
suffer a particularly nasty case of frostbite in his thumb while travelling in
the snow and ice in 1799. Some thought that he might die from the injury, but
he lived another fifteen years according to providence – allegedly in answer to
a prayer from one of his deacons in Bala, a shoemaker called Richard Owen, who
pleaded the promise made to king Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:6: ‘… I will add to
your days fifteen years …’. Thomas
Charles died on the 5th of October in 1814 and his wife Sally passed
away shortly afterwards. They were buried in the churchyard of Llanycil, the
parish church of Bala.
II.
Filiopietistic
Perspectives
Thomas
Charles has attracted considerable attention in terms of the filiopietistic
literature on his life and ministry. Notable examples include recent
biographies by D. Eryl Davies, Jonathan Thomas, and John Aaron.[13]
One reviewer of Eryl Davies’ biography for Christian Focus Publications claims
that ‘Unlike the dusty biographical accounts detached from experience
[presumably a reference to the scholarly account by D. E. Jenkins], the readers
of this remarkable life will themselves enjoy basking in the eternal rays of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that shone so refulgently in the
life and ministry of Thomas Charles’.[14]
Such claims are difficult to accept from an academic perspective and highlight
the problem of hagiography in evangelical historiography. The problem is akin
to the Great Man theory of history found in many nineteenth century biographies.
An example of this with respect to Thomas Charles may be found in the
nineteenth century study by John Morgan Jones and William Morgan Y Tadau
Methodistaidd (‘The Methodist Fathers’) published in 1879.[15] In
such filiopietistic literature, history is seen as the outworking of the lives
of ‘great men’, ‘heroes’, or ‘fathers’. The evangelical historian Iain Murray
has done much to promote the idea of great evangelical men who alter the course
of history under the hidden hand of divine providence.[16]
He even titled one of his books on the subject of evangelical history Heroes
which contains a chapter on Thomas Charles of Bala.[17] Such
approaches are generally seen as discredited in academic circles owing to their
neglect of social, economic, political, cultural, and intellectual factors and
for their emphasis on the hidden hand of divine providence – something elusive
to the modern historian. They also suffer from a patriarchal approach to
history which deliberately neglects the role of women in shaping evangelical
history. Murray is generally sceptical
of academic history written by professional historians in British and American
universities – believing such institutions to be compromised either by
theological liberalism or neoorthodoxy. Murray argues that unless one’s
approach to history is shaped by providentialism, it cannot be true history at
all. However, it should arguably be the case for a historian with Reformed or
Calvinistic presuppositions, that everything happens according to
providence – the good, the bad, and the ugly – not simply the parts favourable
to one’s own theological point of view.
The first biographical study of Thomas Charles
was penned by his close friend and associate Thomas Jones of Denbigh
(1756–1820).[18]
It is essentially a translation into Welsh of a diary kept by Thomas Charles
from January 1773 to August 1785. Various papers following Charles’ death were
eventually passed to Edward Morgan who published A Brief Memoir of the Life
and Labours of the Rev. Thomas Charles (1828). He also produced a book of
essays, letters, and interesting papers from Charles’ life and ministry – an
important source for understanding Thomas Charles.[19]
Unfortunately, these studies have largely amounted to a hagiographical
reception of Thomas Charles in evangelical circles, rather than any critical
scholarly material or warts-and-all biography. The most recent study of Thomas
Charles produced by John Aaron writing for the Banner of Truth reverts to the
filiopietistic tradition and adds little of value to our understanding of
Thomas Charles besides a plea from John Aaron for some consideration of his
Calvinistic theology – a much needed corrective to the near total absence of
theological consideration in D. E. Jenkins’ study of Thomas Charles.[20] However,
as with many Banner of Truth titles, the characters emerge as larger-than-life
Protestant saints whom the reader is called to emulate – highlighting the
didactic intentions of the authors.
III.
Scholarly
Perspectives
One
of the most significant scholarly studies of Thomas Charles was published over
three volumes in 1908 by D. E. Jenkins. Not only are these volumes unreadable
as biography due to their extensive quotations from letters, papers, and
financial documents, but they deliberately eschew and avoid considering
Charles’ commitment to a distinctively Reformed or Calvinistic theological
perspective. Despite writing three massive volumes at almost six hundred pages
each, Jenkins says almost nothing about Thomas Charles’ theology – a remarkable
achievement considering that Charles was one of Wales’s premier theologians
during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is a deliberate
and studied silence reflecting the ideology of Protestant Liberalism in Wales
at the time of writing. In over 1,800 pages, Jenkins manages to say very little
of significance or make the mass of letters and documents he cites into any kind
of coherent narrative. Often letters are cited with no explanation or comment
besides the chapter title and brief comment from the author. Pithy quotations
are rare, and Jenkins prefers to cite entire documents – a useful source for future
historians, but nowhere do we hear the voice of Jenkins himself analysing or critiquing
the sources he so liberally cites. Despite its many flaws, this remains the
most scholarly and substantial biographical study of Thomas Charles to date –
showing the considerable neglect of Thomas Charles in the scholarly literature
since its publication.
Although Thomas Charles has not attracted many
scholarly biographies besides Jenkins’ narrative, he had not been entirely
absent from academic discussion. E. Wyn James (literary/historical), David Ceri
Jones (historical), and D. Densil Morgan (theological) have all made important
contributions to our knowledge of Thomas Charles’ life and ministry. E. Wyn
James argues that the story of Mary Jones and her quest for a Bible is arguably
one of the most famous stories in the world, at least in terms of popular Christian
culture.[21]
He considers the story of Mary Jones alongside the poetry of the Welsh
hymnwriter Ann Griffiths (1776–1805) – both stories give central place to the
role of women in shaping Welsh cultural history and connecting them both is
their relation to their pastoral mentor: Thomas Charles of Bala. Wyn James
observes that Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones shared many of the same privileges
and participated in the same evangelical religious culture:
They both belonged to the
same religious community, a community which centred on Bala and on Thomas
Charles. Indeed, all the elements which characterised the Calvinistic Methodism
of north Wales at the end of the eighteenth century were at work in both their
lives. Their spiritual experiences were essentially the same, as were their
beliefs. As regards religious practise, they both spoke the same language,
followed the same customs, and attended the same type of meetings. They heard
the same preachers, read the same books, sang the same hymns. Both knew Thomas
Charles personally, and although Ann had not, like Mary, been a pupil in one of
Charles’s circulating schools, both were deeply indebted to Thomas Charles’s
educational efforts.[22]
Charles,
according to Wyn James, is principally remembered for his educational work in
promoting Biblical literacy – teaching children and adults to read the
catechism and memorise the Scriptures. His schools were modelled on those
advanced by Griffith Jones and largely continued the work Jones had started.
His catechism and Scriptural dictionary were largely written to help ordinary
Welsh folk read and understand the Scriptures for themselves in their own
language. According to Wyn James, Thomas Charles expressed a high view of
Scripture – hinting at a view of the inerrancy of the original autographs.[23] Some
today would describe Charles’ view of the inspiration and infallibility of the
Holy Scriptures as bordering on evangelical fundamentalism, if not a naïve
Biblical literalism. Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones were both raised within a
culture that considered the Bible to be the holy and infallible word of God.
However, as Wyn James is careful to point out, Ann Griffiths was a genius and
showed a masterful grasp of both Scripture and poetry – something beyond the
reach of Mary Jones’ cultural attainment. Whereas we remember Mary Jones
chiefly for her devotion and dedication to Scripture in walking some twenty-six
miles to obtain a Bible with her life savings – there could not be a higher
testimony to the preciousness of Holy Scripture in her life. The British and
Foreign Bible Society does not seem to have been founded as a direct result of
the Mary Jones story being retold by Thomas Charles, but she – along with many
other Methodist converts in Wales – showed considerable thirst for the
Scriptures in their own language, something which the Bible Society was founded
to provide.
David Ceri Jones, Boyd Stanley Schlenther, and
Eryn Mant White approach Thomas Charles from a decisively more historical perspective
than Wyn James’ somewhat more literary-historical approach. Jones, Schlenther,
and White are professional historians based at the University of Aberystwyth,
while Wyn James was a Professor at the School of Welsh in Cardiff University. According
to Jones, Schlenther, and White, Welsh Calvinistic Methodism from 1780 to 1791
was ‘adopting some of the features and trappings of a denomination in its own
right’.[24] Thomas
Chales originally came from Southwest Wales to settle in Bala in order to marry
Sally Jones, a local shopkeeper, after a protracted courtship. He would arrive
in Bala without benefice or hope of employment in the Established Church as his
Methodist sympathies were widely known in both Wales and England. His wife was reluctant
to leave her hometown and business and so Thomas Charles decided to settle with
her in Bala and throw in his lot in with the Calvinistic Methodists in the
surrounding area. He committed himself to educating local children at first –
teaching them to read, memorise Scripture, and recite his popular catechism.
Eventually, he would develop a network of circulating schools which would prove
to be immensely popular and largely took over the existing circulating schools
left over from the ministry of Griffith Jones and Madam Bridget Bevan while
also substantially expanding the work in North Wales. Thomas Charles was not
the first to come up with the idea of Sunday Schools as a means of promoting
Biblical literacy (Charles admits to borrowing this idea from Robert Raikes in
Gloucester). The Baptist Morgan John Rhys and possibly the independent Edward
Williams of Oswestry were the first to implement such ideas in Wales. Thomas
Charles was nonetheless responsible for greatly expanding and utilising the
idea in Wales. According to Jones, Schlenther, and White, ‘It was Charles’s
initiative which was to be the most enduring and influential. The Calvinistic
Methodists in Wales were, therefore, fortunate to be able to reap the early
benefits of Charles’s Sunday school system’.[25]
Williams Pantycelyn, concerned by the passing
of Daniel Rowland in 1790, felt compelled to pass on the baton of leadership to
Thomas Charles in correspondence with him shortly before his death. In one of
his final letters to Thomas Charles, Williams makes mention of the Thirty-Nine
Articles of the Church of England, the ecumenical creeds, and the confessional
statements drafted by the seventeenth-century Puritan assembly in the
Westminster Standards.[26]
Williams was evidently concerned about the emergence of Unitarianism in Wales.
He makes mention of several antitrinitarian heresies in his letter to Thomas
Charles including Socinianism and Arianism, clearly concerned that such views
could gain a foothold in Wales especially in the light of Peter Williams’
capitulation to theological errors regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. Though
many attribute the expulsion of Peter Williams to Nathaniel Rowland, it was
Thomas Charles who took the leading role in his formal expulsion from the
Methodist society in June 1791. As Jones, Schlenther, and White observe, ‘Charles
may have felt that he was keeping faith with William Williams’ dying wish that
he root out heresy and may have acted out of the best possible motives,
although Peter Williams certainly viewed him as one of his chief persecutors’.[27] Unlike
the expulsion of Harris for heresy earlier in the history of the Calvinistic
Methodist movement, the expulsion of Peter Williams did not have the same catastrophic
consequences for the public face of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales – an
indication of the movement’s growing strength and confidence in dealing with
serious theological issues such as the doctrine of the Trinity, incarnation,
and the hypostatic union.
Jones, Schlenther, and White observe that
Thomas Charles’ role in the development of Calvinistic Methodism in North Wales
was absolutely crucial. He did much towards establishing a solid foundation for
the Sunday school movement with his publication Rheolau i Ffurfiaw a Threfnu
yr Ysgolion Sabbothawl (‘Rules for the Forming and Organising of the Sunday
Schools’) (1813). He also provided the movement with a popular catechism
entitled Hyfforddwr i’r Grefydd Gristionogol (‘Instructor in the
Christian Religion’), originally published in 1807. Such was the popularity of Thomas
Charles’ catechism that it ran to over eighty editions in the nineteenth
century alone. It was a rival in Wales to the Purtian Westminster Shorter
Catechism in English and was arguably more memorable and pithier in its sayings
and use of Biblical language. Thomas Charles also published a reading primer to
encourage literacy in the medium of Welsh in his Sillydd Cymraeg, neu,
Arweiniad i’r Frutaniaeth (‘Welsh Primer or A Guide to the British
Language’) (1807). His aims were at once educational, enlightened, and
evangelical.
The period also witnessed the emergence of two
decisively important female figures within the Calvinistic Methodist movement
in Wales: Mary Jones and Ann Griffiths – both of whom were deeply indebted to
the life and ministry of Thomas Charles.[28]
Mary Jones being famous for walking over twenty-five miles to Bala barefooted
to purchase a Bible from Thomas Charles with her life savings and Ann Griffiths
being famous for her deeply experiential hymnody and use of Welsh verse to
express a profoundly experimental form of Calvinist divinity. Ann Griffiths’
hymns appeared for the first time, preserved by her maidservant’s memory, in a
collection edited by Thomas Charles in 1806. Charles also contributed with the
help of Thomas Jones, Denbigh (his right-hand man) to the sixpenny quarterly Trysorfa
Ysprydol (‘Spiritual Treasury’), designed along similar lines to the
English Evangelical Magazine to promote news about evangelicalism in
Wales and the wider world. It was later superseded by Y Drysorfa (‘The
Treasury’) and Y Goleuad (‘The Illuminator’) which proved to have
greater longevity, but as Jones, Schlenther, and White observe, it set ‘a high
standard for its successors to emulate’ despite its irregular publication
history.[29]
Thomas Jones would emerge as one of the principal defenders of an enlightened
evangelical Calvinism in Wales during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. Among his most important theological works are his translation of
William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour (1655–62) under the
title Y Cristion Mewn Cyflawn Arfogaeth (1796–1820) and his influential
history of the Church of England which appeared with the title Hanes Diwygwyr,
Merthyron a Chyffeswyr Eglwys Loegr (‘A History of the Reformers, Martyrs
and Confessors of the Church of England’) (1813).
Thomas Charles made the difficult decision to
ordain Calvinistic Methodist ministers in Wales in 1811 and withdraw formally
from the Established Church. This was a tricky decision because, as Jones,
Schlenther, and White observe, ‘Many saw their activities with the Methodist
movement as an extension of their duties in the [Established] Church, not as an
alternative to them. Any ordination would inevitably entail the formation of a
separate denomination, so that the clergymen would have to dissent from the Church
in order to remain members of the Methodist movement’.[30] Due
to the frustrations expressed by lay exhorters and preachers within the
movement at not being able to administer and preside over the sacraments of
baptism and Holy Eucharist, which had been the sole prerogative of ordained
Anglican clergymen, Thomas Charles felt his hand was compelled to ordain the
first clergymen of the emerging Calvinistic Methodist denomination in Wales.
1811 was a watershed moment in the history of Calvinistic Methodism in Wales
which from then on would exist as a dissenting denomination that would
eventually become known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales. According to
Jones, Schlenther, and White, ‘Thomas Charles, despite his late conversion to
the idea of secession, never regretted his role in fashioning the Calvinistic
Methodist Church of Wales and was said to have remained ‘quiet and comfortable’
in his mind regarding the momentous decision’.[31]
His death in 1814 would mark the end of an era and the beginning of new chapter
in the history of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism.
D. Densil Morgan gives particular attention in
the second volume of Theologia Cambrensis: Protestant Religion and Theology
in Wales (2021) to the theology of Thomas Charles’ popular catechism and
Bible commentary. Charles’ first attempt at producing a catechism was published
under the title Crynodeb o Egwyddorion Crefydd, neu Gatechism Byrr i Blant
ac Eraill (‘A Summary of the Principals of Religion, or a Short Catechism
for Children and Others’) which was published in 1789 and reissued in 1791,
1794, and 1807. A more extensive catechism was published by Thomas Charles in
1807 as Hyfforddwr yn Egwyddorion y Grefydd Gristnogol (‘An Instructor
in the Principles of the Christian Religion’) which went through over eighty
editions during the nineteenth century alone. This catechism is more concise
and to the point than the Westminster Shorter Catechism whose composition it
echoes. Commenting on the theology of the catechism, Densil Morgan observes the
following:
Although the doctrinal scheme is
incontrovertibly Reformed following the path of federal or covenant theology,
its emphasis is on the Person of Christ, the believer’s union with Christ
through the Holy Spirit, along with a higher than usual sacramental tone.
Baptism presupposes regeneration, while the Lord’s Supper is not merely a
memorial of Christ’s sacrificial death but an active partaking of his benefits.
Although essential, the doctrine of predestination is in the background, not in
the foreground. Christ’s atonement is regarded as sufficient for all, and none
who choose to come to Christ will be rejected.[32]
Although
undoubtedly Christocentric as Densil Morgan suggests, Charles’ catechism should
arguably not be read from the standpoint of a central dogma thesis (something
against which Richard A. Muller warns in his scholarly works on
Post-Reformation Reformed dogmatics). Charles’ view of Christ’s atonement,
though abundantly sufficient for all, is nonetheless decisively limited to or
efficient for the elect alone. Question and Answer 130 of the catechism makes
this abundantly clear: ‘Dros bwy y bu Crist farw? Tros ei bobl etholedig a
roddwyd iddo gan y Tad (‘For whom did Christ die? For his elect people given to
him by the Father’). Children and adults were expected to believe and
understand the doctrine of particular redemption as given in the words of the
catechism – Charles didn’t surrender an inch to hypothetical universalism, not
even when teaching children.
Densil Morgan considers Thomas Charles’ Geiriadur
Ysgrythyrol to be something like a theological encyclopaedia. Charles shows
considerable familiarity with the Biblical languages of Hebrew and koine Greek,
not to mention Latin, Welsh, and English. He considers the doctrine of the
Trinity under the heading ‘Triads’ (Trioedd) as the word Trinity was
first coined by Tertullian and is not original to Scripture. According to
Densil Morgan, Charles largely follows the Western or Latin tradition by
beginning with God’s unity before considering his triunity drawing upon the works
of High Protestant orthodoxy such as Francis Turretin (1623–87), Jerome Zanchius
(1516–90), Johannes Cocceius (1603–69), and the Heidelberg Catechism.[33]
His longest article is on the subject of federal or covenant theology under the
heading Cyfamod (meaning ‘Covenant’). Densil Morgan summarises Charles covenantal
theology under the rubric of a covenant of works in Adam and a covenant of
grace in Christ:
Adam, as representative of humankind, is the
covenant head, and when he fell, so did his progeny. Were it not for Christ,
the Second Adam, who, unlike Adam, was fully obedient to the Father’s will, the
human race would be eternally lost. The glory of the gospel was that God, in
Christ, took pity on the race, and through his sacrifice saved all who had been
given to him by the Father.[34]
Thomas Charles shows considerable familiarity with continental Reformed tradition and thinkers as diverse as Jerome Zanchius, Andreas Musculus (1514–81), Campegius Vitringa (1659–1722), Hermann Witsius (1636–1708), Johannes Cocceius, and Francis Turretin. John Calvin, however, is only mentioned once in the entire dictionary – under the subject of Holy Communion. Charles believed that Christ was spiritually present in the sacrament and is received by the communicant by faith (the Calvinistic view of the Lord’s Supper) rather than a merely memorialist or Zwinglian view. His dictionary remained a staple of Welsh theological culture for generations and would have adorned many a bookshelf throughout the Principality.
IV.
Welsh
Language Perspectives
The
most significant scholarly contribution in the Welsh language to the literature
on Thomas Charles is the collection of academic essays edited by D. Densil
Morgan published in 2014 for the University of Wales Press. This volume
essentially discusses the current state of scholarship on Thomas Charles and
his contributions to education, religion, literacy, scholarship, lexicography,
and culture. The articles in this volume consider Charles in his historical and
literary context, his role in establishing Sunday schools throughout Wales, and
involvement in establishing the Bible Society, as well as his relationship to
Scripture, his lexicographical work and development of his theological
dictionary, his relationship to Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones, his close
friendship with Thomas Jones of Denbigh, and his place in the political
developments of his period. Many of the chapters, as with D. E. Jenkins, eschew
theological consideration of Charles. However, three articles in particular
give some light attention to theological concerns – those by R. Watcyn James, Geraint
Lloyd, and Andras Iago respectively. Watcyn James focuses upon Thomas Charles’
involvement in establishing the Bible Society in 1804. He observes three key
theological-historical influences in the life of Thomas Charles which motivated
him to establish the Bible Society: continental pietism (particularly the Halle
school), a robust Calvinistic Methodism indebted to the theology of the evangelical
Puritans, and the personal experience of conversion as a profound change of
heart and mind – the goal at which all of Charles’ efforts aimed.[35] This
triad of influences gave birth to the evangelical, enlightened, and moderate
Calvinism which characterises the theology of Thomas Charles. Geraint Lloyd’s
chapter seeks to answer not so much what Thomas Charles did in providing
Wales with Bibles and education, but why he chose to do it – and this
inevitably involves a consideration of his theology.[36]
Lloyd sees Thomas Charles’ theology within a number of concentric circles
involving his catholicity, his revivalism, his orthodoxy, and his Anglicanism.
Lloyd could have done more to identify the Reformed or Calvinistic influences
on Thomas Charles’ theology in more detail – a missed opportunity which leaves
open a window for further research. Finally, Andras Iago considers Charles’
relationship with his friend and associate Thomas Jones of Denbigh and the
debates surrounding Calvinism and Arminianism in Wales at the turn of the
century.[37]
Although this chapter makes significant points about Thomas Jones’ publications
and the Calvinist-Arminian controversy in Wales at the time, it says very
little about Thomas Charles and his involvement in this debate. Though some
consideration is given to theology in these chapters, much more could have been
done to identify the sources of Charles’ theology in the continental Reformed
literature and to explore his warm evangelical Calvinist piety as expressed in
his catechism and Bible dictionary.
V.
Conclusion
This
essay has explored the salient themes arising in the life and ministry of
Thomas Charles and expressed considerable concern about the tendency in the
literature toward hagiography – especially in John Aaron’s recent biography for
the Banner of Truth. He writes very much in the spirit of Iain Murray and toes
the Banner of Truth’s theological line. The scholarly literature – particularly
the gargantuan three volume study by D. E. Jenkins – proves equally
dissatisfying, largely owing to its complete neglect of Thomas Charles’
theological perspective – particularly his evangelical Calvinism. Some
promising signs emerge in the scholarship of E. Wyn James, David Ceri Jones,
Boyd Stanley Schlenther, and Eryn Mant White, though there has yet to be an
authoritative scholarly study of Thomas Charles’ theology in context of
Reformed orthodoxy. The Welsh language scholarship edited by Densil Morgan also
leaves something to be desired – particularly for its continued neglect of
Thomas Charles’ Calvinism and the sources of his theology in post-Reformation
Reformed dogmatics.
Bibliography
Aaron, John,
Thomas Charles of Bala (Edinburgh, 2022).
Davies,
Eryl, No Difficulties with God: The Life of Thomas Charles, Bala (1755–1814)
(Fearn, 2022).
Hughes,
William, Life and Letters of the Rev. Thomas Charles, B.A. of Bala
(Rhyl, 1881).
Iago, Andras, ‘Astudiaeth Feirniadol o Fywyd a Gwaith Thomas Jones o Ddinbych’ (1756–1820) (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2014).
James, E.
Wyn, ‘Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths, and Mary Jones’, Eusebeia
5 (Autumn, 2005), 69–98.
Jenkins, D.
E., The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles, B.A., of Bala, 3 vols (Denbigh,
1908).
Jones, David
Ceri, Boyd Stanley Schlenther, Eryn Mant White, The Elect Methodists:
Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales 1735–1811 (Cardiff, 2012), pp.
195-212, 213–38.
Jones, David Ceri, ‘Iain H. Murray and the Rise and Fall of British Evangelicalism’, in Andrew Atherstone and David Ceri Jones (eds), Making Evangelical History: Faith, Scholarship, and the Evangelical Past (London and New York, 2019), pp. 194–212.
Jones, John
Morgan and William Morgan, ‘Thomas Charles, B.A., Bala’ (3 chapters), in John
Aaron (trans.), The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales (Edinburgh,
2008), vol.2, pp. 239–342. Originally published in Welsh as Y Tadau
Methodistaidd in 1897.
Jones, R.
Tudur, “Diwylliant Thomas Charles o’r Bala”, in J. E. Caerwyn Williams (gol.), Ysgrifau
Beirniadol IV (Dinbych, 1969), 98–120.
Jones, R.
Tudur, Thomas Charles o’r Bala: Gwas y Gair a Chyfaill Cenedl (Caerdydd,
1979).
Jones,
Thomas, Cofiant neu Hanes Bywyd a Marwolaeth Thomas Charles (Bala,
1816).
Morgan, D.
Densil, (gol.), Thomas Charles o’r Bala (Caerdydd, 2014).
Morgan, D.
Densil, Theologia Cambrensis: Protestant Religion and Theology in Wales: The
Long Nineteenth Century, 1760–1900 (Cardiff, 2021), pp. 72–82.
Morgan,
Derec Llwyd, ‘“Ysgolion Sabbothol” Thomas Charles’, yn Pobl Pantycelyn
(Llandysul, 1986), tt. 86–110.
Morgan,
Derec Llwyd, ‘Thomas Charles: “Math Newydd ar Fethodist”’, yn Pobl
Pantycelyn (Llandysul, 1986), tt. 74–85.
Morgan,
Edward, A Brief History of the Life and Labours of the Rev. T. Charles, A.B.
(London 1828).
Morgan,
Edward, Essays, Letters and Interesting Papers of the Late Rev. Thomas
Charles of Bala (London, 1836). Retypeset by the Banner of Truth in 2021.
Murray,
Iain, ‘Thomas Charles of Bala’, in Heroes (Edinburgh, 2009), pp. 117–42.
Pritchard,
R. A., Thomas Charles, 1755–1814 (Cardiff, 1955).
Thomas, Jonathan, Thomas Charles: ‘God’s Gift to Wales’ (Leominster, 2021).
[1]
D. E. Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala (Denbigh,
1908), vol. 1, p. 2.
[2]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 2.
[3]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 2.
[4] Useful summaries of Thomas Charles’ life and ministry
may be found in The Dictionary of Welsh Biography (DWB) online, Meic Stephens
(ed.), The New Companion to the Literature of Wales (Cardiff, 1998), and
Timothy Larsen (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals (Leicester,
2003).
[5]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 21–22.
[6]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 35.
[7]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 36.
[8]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 51.
[9]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 66.
[10]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 66.
[11]
Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, vol. 1, p. 163.
[12] See Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles
of Bala, vol. 2, pp. 50–87.
[13]
D. Eryl Davies, No Difficulties with God: The Life of Thomas Charles, Bala
(1755–1814) (Fearn, 2022); Jonathan Thomas, Thomas Charles: ‘God’s Gift to
Wales’ (Leominster, 2021); John Aaron, Thomas Charles of Bala
(Edinburgh, 2022).
[14]
D. Eryl Davies, No Difficulties with God, p. 18.
[15]
A translation was published by the Banner of Truth by John Aaron (trans.), The
Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales (Edinburgh, 2008), 2 volumes.
[16]
For a critique of Iain Murray’s approach to evangelical history see David Ceri
Jones, ‘Iain H. Murray and the Rise and Fall of British Evangelicalism’, in
Andrew Atherstone and David Ceri Jones (eds), Making Evangelical History:
Faith, Scholarship, and the Evangelical Past (London and New York, 2019),
194–212.
[17]
Iain Murray, ‘Thomas Charles of Bala’, in Heroes (Edinburgh, 2009), pp. 117–42.
[18] Thomas Jones, Cofiant y Parch. Thomas Charles
(Bala, 1816). On the life and work of Thomas Jones, see Andras Llŷr Iago, ‘Astudiaeth Feirniadol o Fywyd a Gwaith Thomas
Jones o Ddinbych (1756–1820)’ (PhD, University of Wales Trinity Saint David,
2014).
[19] Edward Morgan (ed.), Essays, Letters and
Interesting Papers of Thomas Charles (London, 1836). A retypeset edition of
this volume was published by the Banner of Truth in 2021.
[20] See John Aaron, Thomas Charles of Bala
(Edinburgh, 2022).
[21]
E. Wyn James, ‘Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths and Mary
Jones’, Eusebeia 5 (Autumn, 2005), 69–98. An online version of this
article may be found on the Ann Griffiths website hosted by Cardiff University.
[22]
Wyn James, ‘Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones’,
p. 81.
[23]
Wyn James, ‘Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths, and Mary Jones’,
pp. 78–79.
[24]
David Ceri Jones, Boyd Stanley Schlenther, Eryn Mant White, The Elect
Methodists: Calvinistic Methodism in England and Wales 1735–1811 (Cardiff, 2016),
p. 195.
[25]
Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect Methodists, p. 198.
[26]
A copy of this letter may be found in D. E. Jenkins, The Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles B.A. of Bala (Denbigh, 1908),
vol. 2, pp. 51–4.
[27]
Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect Methodists, p. 205.
[28] Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect
Methodists, pp. 218–19.
[29] Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect
Methodists, p. 220.
[30] Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect
Methodists, p. 226.
[31] Jones, Schlenther, & White, The Elect
Methodists, p. 232.
[32] D. Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis: Protestant
Religion and Theology in Wales: The Long Nineteenth Century 1760–1900
(Cardiff, 2021), pp. 77–78.
[33] Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 2, p.
79.
[34] Densil Morgan, Theologia Cambrensis, vol. 2, p.
80.
[35] See R. Watcyn Hames, ‘Thomas Charles a Sefydlu
Cymdeithas y Beibl’, in D. Densil Morgan (gol.), Thomas Charles o’r Bala
(Caerdydd, 2014), pp. 37–55.
[36] See Geraint Lloyd, ‘Thomas Charles a’r Ysgrythur’, in
D. Densil Morgan (gol.), Thomas Charles o’r Bala (Caerdydd, 2014), pp.
57–75.
[37] Andras Iago, ‘Thomas Charles a Thomas Jones o
Ddinbych (1756–1820)’, in D. Densil Morgan (gol.), Thomas Charles o’r Bala
(Caerdydd, 2014), pp. 175–92.